aka Steve » San Francisco Bay area

From death cats to rent-a-dog

steve — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:44:54 +0000

You’ve heard of Flexcar, the car-sharing service? Yahoo! News has a story about FlexPetz, a rent-a-dog* service in San Francisco. (*Oh, wait, the owner hates it when you call it that. It’s a “shared pet ownership concept.”)

The “petz” part of the business name is not only misspelled, it’s misleading, since the service rents … er, shares … only dogs. Why didn’t they call it FlexPooch?

When asked if they’d like to be part of FlexPetz, most cats responded, “We can’t afford it, we don’t earn income. Besides, we don’t like dogs.” Upon clarification (“No, would you like it if various people could rent you? I mean, share in your ownership?”), the cats universally replied, “Nobody owns a cat. We simply allow humans to live with us and serve us. Now feed me, pet me, stop it, give me catnip, go away.”

Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 9—Activities

steve — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:33:29 +0000

Monday, March 26

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Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 8—Activities

steve — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:42:28 +0000

Sunday, March 25

Berkely (has) rocks! Mortar Rock and Grotto Rock are near Indian Rock. I visited all three and shot all of these pictures today.

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The following albums contain pictures taken over the past few days.

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Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 7—Activities

steve — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 03:41:38 +0000

Saturday, March 24

The Castro.

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Some pictures in the following album are not safe for work.

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More words. Soon.

Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 7—Food

steve — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 03:34:40 +0000

Saturday, March 24

Dinner at Nirvana, 544 Castro St., San Francisco (415-861-2226). Details to come.

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Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 6—Activities

steve — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:52:06 +0000

Friday, March 23

Once more to the Bridge! The Golden Gate, that is.

More text to come …

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Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 5—Food

steve — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:50:48 +0000

Thursday, March 22

Morning brew at Peet’s Coffee & Tea, 2124 Vine St., Berkeley. The Boyfriend (TB) had a soy latte, I had my usual iced Americano.

Taste: Good (Guerilla Cafe serves Blue Bottle Coffee, still my favorite in this area)
Portion: Standard espresso drink sizes
Price: Average (TB paid for both drinks, I don’t know how much. We went to Peet’s again a couple of days later and spent $6.55 on my usual and TB’s medium raspberry soy mocha.)

Lunch at Ali Baba’s Cave, 799 Valencia St. (the Mission), San Francisco (415-863-3054), with our new friends Carolyn & Fred (C&F).

I had a “mezza” plate with hummus, baba ganouj, pita bread, and tabouleh salad
TB had falafel, something else, and tabouleh salad
C&F each had an entree, I don’t remember what

Taste: Good, except neither TB or I liked the tabouleh (too much parsley and not enough cracked wheat, I think)
Portion: Just right
Price: Inexpensive ($23, excluding tip, to feed the four of us)

Dinner at Suriya Thai Restaurant, 1432 Valencia St (the Mission), San Francisco (415-824-6655).

TB and I ordered off the specials menu. I don’t know how frequently the specials change, and I didn’t make note of the names of most of the dishes our party ordered.

To start, the four of us shared an order of fried sweet potatoes in coconut/sesame batter, served with a sweet & spicy sauce
C&F had warned us about Suriya’s large portion sizes, so TB and I shared an order of red curry* with coconut milk, fried bananas, red bell peppers, and firm tofu
Carolyn had the Emerald Noodles an a Thai iced tea. Fred had … um, something. C&F are omnivores and between that and the fact that our red curry was so delicious, I didn’t pay attention to C&F’s meals.
We shared a bowl of steamed white rice

Taste: Excellent
Portion: Just right to large
Price: Moderate ($52, sans tip, for all four of us)
Other: Good service, and Suriya’s staff were quite helpful and solicitous in response to my request for vegan food

Sorry for the deficient dining details in this post. I usually make my notes on my handheld computer (a Dell Axim, if you must know) and I forgot it today.

*I’ve decided that red curry is my new vice. I must find delicious vegan red curry when I return to Seattle. I may have to go to my favorite Emerald City restaurants and do a yellow curry and red curry side-by-side comparison.

Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 5—Activities

steve — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:59:42 +0000

Thursday, March 22

My friend Selena’s aunt and uncle, Carolyn and Fred (C&F), live in San Francisco. Selena put me in contact with Carolyn a few weeks in advance of this trip. Today, The Boyfriend (TB) and I met C&F at the 24th Street BART station in the Mission. First, they drove us on a mini-tour through the city and up to the top of Twin Peaks, where we saw dazzling views of the city.

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Then C&F took us to Octagon House in the Pacific Heights/Union Street neighborhood. C&F have lived in San Francisco since the late 1960s and this was their first visit to Octagon House. I happened to wander by Octagon House on my last Bay Area sojourn—and the house happened to be closed. I researched it later and found out that visiting days and hours are limited, so this time TB and I planned ahead.

Several octagon houses were built in San Francisco in the city’s early days. Only two survive in San Francisco, and one on the Russian River. This particular house was built for William C. McElroy, a miller, in 1861. The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in California acquired the house 91 years later (1952). Feusier Octagon House, at 1067 Green St., is located in the Russian Hill neighborhood, less than a mile from the McElroy house (we didn’t visit it). From what one of the Dames and Fred said, while it’s bit hidden from the street and has been remodeled quite a bit, it remains recognizable. The Feusier house is not open to the public.

McElroy Octagon House is larger than it appears from the outside. The Colonial Dames Society doesn’t allow photography inside the house, not even non-flash photos. That’s a shame, because the third floor staircase and balcony area is a beautiful combination of curves and lines, flooded in natural light. I can’t really do it justice by simply writing about it. I was tempted to sneak a picture, anyway, but figured by the time I got the camera out of the camera bag, turned it on, and aimed it, one of the many Dames or docents on site today would have caught me. (And then what? I suppose they would have asked me, and possibly TB and C&F, to leave. Ooo, scary.)

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Next, we visited York Mini Park in the Mission. The neighborhood association, including Carolyn, recently transformed the property from a haven for drunks, druggies, and debris into a stunning public art space. Oh yeah, it’s also a playground. Quetzalcoatl, the mosaic serpent, makes his home here.

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Carolyn guided TB and me on a walking tour through part of the Mission close to York Mini Park. So many spectacular murals! An explosion of colors and an array of designs and themes. If you go to San Francisco and you love art, I encourage you to spend time in the Mission, especially Balmy Alley.

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Precita Eyes created Quetzalcoatl, murals in York Mini Park (I think) as well as other murals in Balmy Alley and throughout the Mission.

Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 4—Food

steve — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:42:27 +0000

Wednesday, March 21

Lunch at Lanesplitter Pub & Pizza, 2033 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. The Boyfriend (TB) and I shared a “small” vegan pizza. 15” is small?

Neapolitan crispy, thin crust pizza with a red sauce, thinly sliced onions,double portion of mushrooms, and Lanesplitter’s own Notta Ricotta vegan cheese (made from Tofutti products)
TB indulged in a Brouwerij Lindemans Framboise Lambic (raspberry Belgian style beer), which we’ve seen (and purchased) at various grocery stores in the Seattle/Tacoma area
I had an Iron Springs Coffee Porter

Taste: Oh so good; tasty sauce, onions sliced to thin perfection, and the herbs in the Notta Ricotta complemented the red sauce. The lambic was delicious, the porter did taste like coffee and was thick but not heavy.

Portion: A bit large, but we powered through it

Price: Average $29 (sans tip; it may sound expensive, but the lambic alone was $7; also, Lanesplitter and many other restaurants charge extra for vegan cheese)

Spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, Day 4—Activities

steve — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:16:08 +0000

Wednesday, March 21

We had rain in the early morning, then sunshine and warm temperatures for the rest of the day. Mid-morning, The Boyfriend (TB) and I hopped on AC Transit bus #9 on Shattuck and rode through North Berkeley, down to Berkeley Marina, and walked the entire length of the pier. Note: If anyone ever tells you to take a long walk on a short pier, don’t go to Berkeley Marina—it has a very long pier (which is a popular fishing spot).

Berkeley Yacht Club is located at the Marina. Funny, when I think of Berkeley, I think of hippies, not yuppies.

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